Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) said Thursday afternoon that Gov. Tom Wolf declined a GOP offer to work along bipartisan lines to seek an extension from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court while the two sides work together to draw an agreed-to map, though while keeping the 2011 congressional map in place for the upcoming 2018 mid-term election.

House Speaker Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) Monday afternoon defended the court-mandated revised congressional map he, along with Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson), submitted to Gov. Tom Wolf Friday night and called on the governor to response to their submission in an open and transparent way, providing a map he would support in the event he decides to not approve the new map.

In the largest in a series of blows to legislative Republican leaders seeking to halt the need to draw a new congressional map prior to a Friday deadline set out by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Monday denied the legislators’ request for a stay in the state supreme court order.

While the denial by Justice Alito gives the legislative leaders an ability to appeal to the entire US Supreme Court for a stay, that does contrast with the now five-day deadline the legislature faces to get a new constitutional map to Gov. Tom Wolf before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would step in to draw one.

While budget address week is a time traditionally reserved for governors to set their budget priorities and legislative agenda for the year, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate are making their budget and legislative priorities known in advance of the governor’s budget address, scheduled for Tuesday, February 6, 2018, at 11:30 a.m.

The Senate Finance Committee Wednesday unanimously approved a House proposal that would eliminate the inheritance tax for minors when the transfer of property comes from a deceased parent, adoptive parent, or stepparent.

The bill, House Bill 291 sponsored by Rep. Carl Walker Metzgar (R-Somerset), cleared the House in April 2017 along a strong bipartisan vote of 176-21.